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Strong earthquake rocks Afghanistan

  • Story Highlights
  • Strong quake registered northeast of Kabul early on Friday
  • No serious damage reported yet from 6.2-magnitude quake
  • CNN correspondents: Quake seemed to last about 30 seconds
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KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- A strong earthquake rumbled deep beneath mountainous regions northeast of Kabul early Friday, waking residents and sending some into the streets.

But no serious damage has been reported from the magnitude 6.2 quake, which struck about 12:30 a.m. about 50 miles southeast of Feyzabad, Afghanistan, in a sparsely populated area.

Centered nearly 170 miles down, the earthquake's power was muted on the surface, although was felt lightly as far away as northern India.

CNN's Thomas Evans and Chris Lawrence, both in Kabul, said the quake lasted for nearly 30 seconds and seemed to increase in intensity.

"I had gone to bed about an hour ago and had fallen asleep," Lawrence said. "Woke up instantly to the shaking, which was considerable. I could feel our whole house here in Kabul moving."

"I went out on the roof very soon after," Evans related. "I could hear people gathering outside of their homes but no obvious signs of damage, no smoke or sirens, at least not in the Sherpur district of Kabul."

A U.S. military spokesman in Kabul said he had received no reports of damage from military posts around the country and had seen none walking around his base in Kabul.

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